I can see clearly now!

The days seem to be blurring into each other. A new day - two new presentations and a new quilt to quilt! The push on the quilts is only because I took some time to enjoy last week's beautiful weather, so I don't mind. It's cool outside these days -- too cool to sit out, but perfect for walking. I'm down to 25 KM to walk in two days to finish my Virtual Challenge. A piece of cake, but I've never been this close before! However, considering that I've walked almost 1,100 KM in 84 days - (yes -- that's 13 KM per day), and with a crazy travel schedule, it doesn't surprise me to be down to the wire like this. 

I've got two presentations this morning; both are ready! 

Here's an update on the lost glasses. I decided to let them go -- they were stretched out of shape, and the chance of finding them intact would be slim. I've learned that following up on certain things isn't worth it. 

Technically, I need glasses to drive, but I found an old pair in the drawer. I didn't feel comfortable having only one pair- apparently, I was comfortable before! Anyway, I decided to get my eyes checked, and so I was off to the optometrist yesterday. 

It appears the changes in my eyes over the last (no idea how many) years are so minimal that it doesn't make sense to change my glasses. That has been my problem in the past. Not enough change to warrant the cost of new glasses. YES --- I am fortunate -- I know that!

But I decided to get new glasses anyway. Well, here's the story of how that happened. When I walked into the office for my appointment (they are in a store of a major eyeglass seller), there were four people in a somewhat intense conversation -- all of them worked for the eyeglass seller or the optometrist office. 

They laughed and very friendly-like said they were gossiping - about a certain new eyeglass place. I'm OK with that, and they made me feel part of their conspiracy, although they stopped talking when I arrived. 

I had to wait for drops, so I was asked if I wanted to shop, and I said no. Then I said yes. Because my intent was to go to the competitor and buy my glasses. So I found a salesperson and told them my story -- careless with glasses, don't want to spend a lot. They were all very sympathetic and kept mentioning the word "budget." Hey -- I don't have a budget; I'm just cheap and don't want to spend much money on glasses. 

I was quite upfront with her and asked her why I should buy from her rather than the other guy down the hall. Well -- they have "packages" that are equivalent to the price I can get from the competitor. Those "packages" were locked in a drawer - not out on display at all! 

I also wanted hinged arms, so I was limiting myself a lot. The bottom line is that I walked out of there with a new pair of NO-NAME glasses (which I LOVE), which cost $229. I don't need multiple pairs -- I just want ONE good pair. I have to wait two weeks for them, but that's OK. I actually found TWO frames that I fell in love with (NO -- I don't need another pair), and this was in the limited area of hinged arms and the "packages."

And the even better news? My left eye is BETTER than it was before, and no change in the right. I dare not tell you my prescription because you're going to laugh. It's so weak I barely need glasses, and I'm perfectly OK with that! I have been known to drive my car without them because I forgot them in the house, but if I ever got in an accident, my insurance company would have a heyday with that, and I refuse to give them the satisfaction!

I love answering the questions - "How is your health?" Excellent. "Medications?" None! Yes --- I was blessed with good genes (thank you, Mom and Dad), and let's hope it stays that way. 

All the equipment is now electronic. No more knob-things on that device they put over your eyes. It's all done remotely from a little tablet -- very cool! 

When I was at the drugstore the other day, they had a new blood pressure monitor, so I had to check it out. I know -- they don't give super accurate readings, but they are close enough. This new machine takes an average of three readings, including your pulse. I'm at the OPTIMAL level and have been for years. My BMI (according to the drugstore) is NORMAL. 

So all that exercise, walking, and watching what I eat over the last 50+ years has paid off. I just hope that when it's my time -- it's fast because my brain won't cope with slow! But that's a morbid thought, and it's a happy day! I am also truly blessed that EVERYTHING in my world is half full, never half empty. Again --- I got on the right end of that scale, and let's pray that it all stays there!

OH -- trust me -- I'm not perfect. I have many secret aches and pains (deny, deny, deny!) and those damn blisters! More on those another day, but NO -- I do not have more. 

Seriously -- there is a house in our neighborhood that no one has lived in since August of last year. This is at least the third package I've seen delivered to the house. Do the idiots (excuse me for saying that) that lived there before know how to change their address? This stuff is coming from Amazon. Sigh...................   Let's see how long this package sits there before it gets picked up. OH -- maybe someone knows the house is empty and is delivering stuff on purpose!! 

A package was delivered to an empty house

While waiting for my appointment, I had a few minutes to kill, so I looked in some shops. Let's say RUFFLES are in. Everything (adults and children) had ruffles!!!! Let me get my gathering feet out for the serger and the sewing machine. I'm going to make ruffles! 

Ruffles are HOT

No idea when the Cimeplex Junxion will open, but it must be soon as all the signage is up. I didn't walk past the front door, so there may be a date there. I can't wait!!!!

The new Cineplex Junxion

It's long overdue that I get more fabric to Diane. I've struggled with time over the last couple of weeks, but this has happened over the previous few days. 

I pulled out my overflowing basket of brown fabric, which needed to be culled. 

My basket of brown fabric

I started culling out fabric that I'd passed over for years. Why do I need to keep this, as it's not something I'll likely ever use? 

Let the culling begin

Gosh -- it doesn't seem like I got rid of a whole lot, as the basket is still quite full, but at least it's not spilling out everywhere. And there are a lot of good browns in there, and I don't want to get rid of the stuff I could use. 

The basket of brown after the cull

Let's say that it fits nicely on the shelf. Before, the fabric was piled so high that I could barely get it on the shelf. 

The brown basket is back on the shelf

And I pulled enough brown from there (and from one other place) to make up quite a few kits for Diane. There are SEVEN kits of brown fabrics; the rest needed some fabric so she could continue. That should keep her busy for a while! 

Kits for Diane to sew

I'm sure there might be enough to make one more quilt with the leftovers of the kits! Then I'll go through the next color basket. 

And I found these in the brown basket, but are they in the right place? 

The top fabric is quite pretty, and it's now in the multi-colored basket, and the other one is back in the brown. It's a bizarre fabric, and no idea why I bought it. 

I was looking for something the other day and discovered this in one of the cupboards. This is baskets of thread! ACK!! It needs to be sorted and put in the right spot (like thread with like thread!) so it can be used! 

Found threads

And then onto the quilt of the day. Let's say I had another late night, as I started this one after dinner! The day was jam-packed with stuff, but I HAD to finish it yesterday to keep on schedule. Thank goodness for automation to help out. 

As I neared the quilt's end, I wondered if I would run out of bobbin thread. 

Almost done - will I run out of bobbin thread?

I probably won't since I still had a full bobbin sitting there. 

A full bobbin waiting to be used

HA --- With mere inches to go, the bobbin ran out. 

The bobbin did run out!

There's the finished quilt. It turned out beautifully. This quilt started 40 years ago as a mother/daughter team effort. 

Customer quilt - DONE

And there's a close-up of the quilting. Perhaps a wee bit too dense, but there is a LOT of plain fabric in it and on the back, so I think it works fine! 

Detail of the quilting

I didn't have time to load the next one, so as soon as the presentations are done today, that is the job. It's a giant one, so I want to start before dinner! I have no errands to do today, so I should be good. OH -- except I have to walk those kits to Diane's house! 

And so everyone (DH and his friends) know, I am looking into booking an appointment with a foot specialist -- just to say I did that, and I may get some advice about my feet. 

On that happy note -- I'm out of here!!! Excited about the day - like every day, and let's GO!!!!

Ciao!!!

A day of discovery

What a super day yesterday was! Despite the rainy start to the day, it was a super day.

I did a very brave thing before I left the house. I decided to use the navigation screen in my car instead of my stand-alone GPS. The last time I tried to use it (months ago), I was very unhappy and I didn't bother to try again. Why was I unhappy? It was how you started it up. Plug into the car, turn on two apps and then it might work. Nope - I was so disgusted that I just used the stand-alone GPS.

However, yesterday I was feeling in a great mood and I wasn't going to let that darn car navigation system get me down. I started by plugging my phone into the car. I should mention that the navigation system uses the data on your phone. That used to be an issue, but with the new phone - unlimited data - I don't care. Well after plugging it in, my phone popped open and asked me to do something. I don't even remember, but I had to zip through a few screens to connect the Bluetooth and get the navigation system to recognize my new phone. I'm not liking this, but let's keep going.

Then, POOF - everything was connected and it worked like a charm. I decided to try it on the way home just to make sure it wasn't a fluke. Everything worked like a charm. I simply have to plug the phone into the car and VOILA - navigation system WITH traffic. I like that. OK - maybe I don't hate the system so much. Good thing I haven't written my critique letter to Toyota yet.

The navigation system in my car

Don't worry - I was pulled to the side of the road when I took that picture.

Where was I going? I headed out to the GIANT book sale in Guelph. This annual event is a major fundraiser for the Guelph Library. HOLY - it's HUGE.

Entering the book sale

Sunday was the last day and all books were ONE DOLLAR each. The place was packed and I think many people waited to come back for the bargain books on that last day. I went on the first day last year and it was also packed as people attempted to get the first pick of everything. Where to start?

I headed to the craft section. I saw this book and got a chuckle from the title. I didn't buy it, but maybe there were some good tips in there on time management.

Love the title of this book

When I was zipping through the novels, I saw this book - the one in orange. I'm sure that dog plots against me!

Cool book title

I did pick up several books - OK - 17 in total. I'll share them with you another day. Do you know how heavy 17 books are? But I had my tote with me (the one with the corrugated plastic in the bottom) and there was NO sagging going on with my bag. We had to line up to pay for the books. The organization of this event was amazing. The line went quickly and I was charged $14 for everything. Some of the items were very small - a little booklet and a magazine and I think they threw those in for free. Yeah!!!  Free is good. I had $15 and didn't take the dollar back. 

Waiting to pay

When I say the books were disappearing faster than you could blink, I'm not kidding. There were loads of volunteers around who were trying to keep things organized. When I made my first pass, there were no gaps in the books. When I made the second pass, there were huge gaps and the volunteers were trying to corral the books into the smallest space possible and even taking down tables. A total madhouse!

Some people brought their kids so you had to watch out for them. Some people were shopping like they were in a bookstore. Thye browsed through individual books. Others like myself had lists and we knew what we were looking for. It's a science to shop for used books. And I may have missed a title or two that was on my list, but it's amazing how the authors you want just seem to pop up on your radar.

Now here's one thing I've noticed - there are several quilt novel series - Carol Dean Jones (Quilting Cozy series), Ann Hazelwood,  ArleneSachitano, Jennifer Chiaverini (although I don't think she's writing quilt novels these days) and Patience Griffith. Why don't those novels ever appear in a used book store or a used book sale?????  So for all of you who are hoarding books by those authors - we need to talk!!!  I can get Jennifer and Patience's books in our library, but not the others.

Then it was back home where I did a bit of work and I walked to the hardware store. More on that tomorrow. I dug out that overflowing basket of licensed fabric. Hmmm - let's see what's in there.

Basket of licensed fabric

I found a couple of Barbie panels, some metallic fabric, and some pieces were too small to be used for pillowcases. This is the reject pile after the first pass.

Fabrics that won't work for the pillowcases

I sorted what I kept into the themes. Mickey went into one pile, spiderman in another and so on. 

Fabrics for making pillowcases

Then I went through it again and there were a few more that got rejected when I looked at the size. So this is what the basket looks like when it went back on the shelf.

My much-reduced basket of licensed prints

I will tell you that at first, I had a wee moment when I thought of all the fabric that I was going to donate to this pillowcase challenge. This is MY fabric. I bought it to use. Some of it even had tags still attached. I know - what the heck is that all about???

Tag still on the fabric

Do you want to know the date on that ticket????  It's in the year 2000. TWO THOUSAND!!!!  That was NINETEEN years ago. I probably bought it to make something for M. She's now an adult and certainly doesn't need it. Did I feel bad about using it for the pillowcases? No longer. I can't imagine not coming home one day and having my family have to deal with that HUGE amount of fabric. So the more that I get it used while I'm around to make that happen - that's a good thing. I will have to downsize one day and I'd rather have used the fabric and had fun with it than just donate it.

Besides, doesn't it warm your heart to know that some child stuck in the hospital is going to appreciate that little spot of cheer in their room rather than it being stuck in my stash room? Let the flood gates open!!!

So if you're like me (and who doesn't have stuff that they no longer use), donate it to our pillowcase cause or use it up yourself. You can't take it with you!!!!!

This is what I took out of that basket to make the pillowcases. I figure there's enough fabric here to make FORTY pillowcases. Now I'll have to find a bit more to make the bands but I have a couple of tubs of solid fabric so that won't be hard. That means there is at least FORTY yards of fabric here. Forty yards at about $10 a yard???  FOUR HUNDRED dollars. That's obscene and this is ONE of many baskets in that stash room.

Fabrics to be made into pillowcases

I feel so good about responsibly using up my stash. I know I have a lot on the go - using up the other bits and pieces for the community projects quilts and now the pillowcases. I don't care. It has to be done. And once that is done - then I'll find more that I can use for these causes. So if you thought I might ever give fabric away? Think again! The only way you get to touch my stash is to come here and help sew it up!!!  I'm still looking for volunteers to come and sew on Tuesday, December 3rd. If you've never used a serger before, this will be a great way to learn. It's going to be super fun!!!!


I washed everything - took two loads to get it all washed. I was a wee bit worried as there were a couple of RED fabrics in there and you all know what happens with red. But as you can see from the photo that the red did NOT bleed as the other fabrics in the same load were fine.

That red did NOT bleed

 I did throw in a color catcher just in case and it came out pristine. Yeah!!!!

Color catcher is white

Now it's prep time. I started ironing the fabrics this morning. I don't know that I'll get all 100 pillowcases prepped for December 3rd, but I want to have a few prepped so that when people come to sew, there's something for them to do without having to wait.

Pressing the fabrics

It's so nice to have a clean cutting table to make cutting the pillowcases super easy and accurate.

The cutting table is prepped for cutting

This is what still needs to be ironed. If I prep one or two pillowcases per day, it'll take no time to get them all ready for December 3rd.

Waiting to be ironed

If you want to part with part of your stash that will be appropriate for the pillowcases, I would sure appreciate that the fabric is WASHED and pressed. I can do the cutting, but the washing and pressing are time-consuming and I'm trying to deal with my own stuff. Remember, I only went through ONE basket. There are three more and those ones are piled higher than this first one was. I'll easily have fabric for 250 pillowcases. That will make a dent in the stash and I'm looking forward to making that dent. I can use the space on the shelves for something else. NOT something new - just reconfigure what is already here.

There's one last discovery that happened yesterday and it brought a smile to my face. I was putting away a QuiltFolk magazine that I received last week. Guess what I found?????  Can you see in the photo below???

Guess what I found????

Here's a better picture - yep - my missing glasses!!! I must have been rooting around in the books/magazines and took the darn things off my head and put them on the shelf. NO - I remember now, I was pulling a project box off the top of the bookcase and had to lean my head backward. My glasses were sliding off so I took them off and put them on the top shelf. AHA - now I remember!!!!

My missing glasses

I was getting used to the old glasses. If you look at the two pairs, there isn't much difference between them. Now to take better note of where I place the darn things when I take them off!!!!  Oh, life is good!!!!

The old and the newer pair of glasses

Gosh - life couldn't be better!!!  Finding a home for some of my fabrics, found my glasses and my navigation system works pretty well. I love when things come together!!!! And it's Monday sewing!!!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!